Two years ago we featured a mirrored chrome and blue metalflake hot rod from Von Dutch Kustom Cycles (VDKC). Although at the time VDKC was a fairly new entry into the custom motorcycle-building scene, the name "Von Dutch" conjured up a long history of pinstriping and custom creations that influenced countless painters and fabricators as well as cultivated a way of life-Kustom Culture.
To perpetuate the Kustom Culture lifestyle that the company's namesake inspired, VDKC CEO and master designer Alex Mardikian, along with his crew of skilled mechanics and fabricators, never rest. "My motto is to keep challenging those around me to never be content with where we are at, because when you stop, that's it. That's the end," says Alex.
Ever since we featured that first bike two years ago, VDKC has been burning the midnight motor oil to stay on top of its game. The company has become a licensed motorcycle manufacturer offering more than a dozen different high-end models ranging from Pro Street bikes to bobbers and has established a nationwide-soon to be worldwide-dealer network, thanks in part to VDKC's new V.P. of sales and dealer development, Ron Starrantino.
In fact, it was a white-knuckled, curb-hopping, racing-down-the-Las-Vegas-strip-in-the-cab-of-a-pickup-truck meeting with one of the company's newest dealers that inspired the one-off VDKC custom you see here. With the ink still wet on the contract establishing Richard Weisman, owner and CEO of Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace, as the only VDKC dealer in the state of Nevada, Alex and Richard hit the strip to grab a bite to eat. As Alex drove, Richard discussed marketing ideas to help celebrate the grand opening of the exotic-car dealership, which was to take place in two months. Richard pitched the idea of building a one-off bike specifically for the star-studded event, and Alex's brain automatically went into design overload.
"Alex is a design genius. He is so full of creativity and energy-once he gets going, he just doesn't stop," Richard said. "I have three kids, and he has more energy than all of them put together. He was driving down Las Vegas Blvd., sketching out ideas on a wrinkled-up Burger King receipt, saying 'What if I did this? What if I did that?' I'm surprised we didn't mow down any pedestrians."
Determined to build a bike worthy of sharing floor space with the cream of the crop of luxury and exotic cars such as Bentleys and Ferraris, Alex immediately returned to his Rancho Cucamonga, CA, motorcycle shop so his team of fabricators could start turning his rough design into rolling art. Right from the start the VDKC team had strong doubts that the design could be replicated in metal. "Whenever my fabricators say we can't do something, I like to prove them wrong. So I secured a Chopper Guys' Softail frame to a lift, pulled out the cutting wheel, and started tearing through the frame," said Alex. "All that was left was the downtube and lower motor mounts, and I turned to the guys and said, 'Now we have to re-create it. We have no choice; there's no looking back. It's only metal.'"